(Dustin Price/dustinpricephotography.com)

AURORA — The volleyball committee is recommending a new seeding criteria to be used in the postseason — and a move from the districts to regionals in Class 1A.

The group voted to approve the use of a three-pronged approach to seeding, using data from the RPI standings, MaxPreps rankings, and the CHSAANow coaches poll. This follows a similar seeding process used for the first time by 1A-5A football this year, and follows the lead of field hockey, which is also recommending the use of the three data points.

“I feel that volleyball is in a great spot right now, and we’re really excited to incorporate new seeding criteria for next year,” said CHSAA assistant commissioner Bethany Brookens. “We value the coaches’ input and the more data we can use for seeding, the more accurate it will be.”

The CHSAANow coaches poll is open to all head coaches in the state, and they only vote in their own classification. All head coaches are required to vote in eight of 10 weeks during the regular season in order to be eligible to vote for seeding.

League champions will continue to automatically qualify for regionals, and the remainder of the regional field will be filled by the final RPI standings of the regular season.

The committee also further defined what changes can be made to seeding based upon geography and league opponents.

League opponents will only be changed in regions if the top two seeds in each region are from the same league, and teams may only move up or down one seed.

Teams can only be moved for geography if they are a No. 3 seed in the region, and they may be moved at maximum four seeds.

The changes to the seeding criteria followed a vote to move away from the district format in Class 1A.

The committee voted to change to a 24-team regional format where the top eight seeds will host a region, and each of the eight regions will automatically qualify to the state tournament. The remaining four teams will be selected from non-qualifiers based upon the final RPI standings of the regular season.

“I’m excited that 1A is moving away from districts and into regionals so that they are in line with the other classifications,” Brookens said. “We value 1A volleyball and we’re excited for them to join the rest of the state with regionals.”

Additionally, the committee recommended that all teams play a minimum of 18 matches against member schools and varsity opponents.

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Setting up the initial boys season

The committee also discussed the upcoming first sanctioned season of boys volleyball, which will begin in the spring of 2021. They agreed that the format would mirror that of the girls, including the state tournament format, and seeding criteria.

“We’ve put in a lot of work to get girls volleyball to the point where it is now, and we believe boys will also thrive using the same model,” Brookens said.

The plan is to have one classification during the initial season. The date of the first state tournament was set for May 6-8, 2021.

One other item that needs to be decided is a venue for the state championships.

“I’ll be exploring all sorts of options,” Brookens said.

(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

AURORA — In an effort to help the growth of the sport, the field hockey committee is recommended an expansion of the state tournament from eight teams to 12.

“The point is to keep more teams engaged throughout the season,” said CHSAA assistant commissioner Justin Saylor, who oversees the sport. “Looking back at historical data, the same eight programs have traditionally been in the tournament and we wanted to expand it to increase the opportunity for more teams to not only qualify for the tournament, but to potentially win a playoff game, because they’ll be playing like competition.”

Under the recommendation, the top six seeds would receive byes while the next six seeds compete in play-in brackets. In one play-in bracket, the No. 9 and No. 12 seed would play, with the winner facing the No. 8 seed. The winner of that game would then face the No. 1 seed.

In the other first-round play-in bracket, the No. 10 and No. 11 seed would play, with the winner facing the No. 7 seed. The winner of that would then face the No. 2 seed.

“Additional time practicing can only help some of our programs,” Saylor said. “I think the fact that teams will be fighting for a spot in the playoffs for the majority of the season will help those programs.”

Here is an example of what the bracket would look like:

Coinciding with this change, the field hockey committee’s hope is to add at least two more programs prior to the start of the next season. The sport currently has 15 varsity teams.

“As we look to expand field hockey in the state, we want to get ahead and start looking at ways to promote that growth with an expanded playoff format,” Saylor said.

One possibility is another program within Douglas County School District. Mountain Vista had more than 80 players last season.

“There’s an obvious need for a second program, and we’re hoping to add that for the next cycle,” Saylor said.

Additionally, another program within Denver Public Schools is a possibility. The district’s only program at Denver East routinely has more than 100 players.

“We’re hoping that with the popularity of field hockey in that district there will be room for another program in Denver Public Schools,” Saylor said.

The committee is also recommending a change to the seeding criteria for the state tournament, using a combined data approach with RPI, Coaches Poll and MaxPreps rankings. The bracket field will still captured by RPI, which is mandated by the Board of Directors.

“We’re fortunate to have multiple data points available to us, and it just makes sense to be able to utilize those to get a more accurate field seeded for the tournament,” Saylor said.

Finally, field hockey added nine new officials this year. The sport had 16 returning officials, so it was a major increase.

(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

The snowstorm which has already forced the field hockey and boys soccer state tournaments to adjust dates is now also affecting the wrestling committee meeting, which has been postponed.

The wrestling committee was scheduled to be held on Tuesday, but the meeting has been postponed to a future date to be announced.

“Because we have statewide representation on the committee, and the amount of travel involved, we want to ensure our committee members are able to arrive safely and not have to extend their travel plans,” said CHSAA assistant commissioner Adam Bright, who oversees wrestling.

When a new date is announced, CHSAANow will post that information.

This meeting is pretty consequential because the committee will be outlining the new structure for the first girls wrestling season, which will begin in 2020-21.

(David Harvey/ImageProPhotography.com)

The basketball committee held its annual meeting on Tuesday, and a bulk of the gathering was spent discussing each classification’s postseason format and seeding.

Here’s what each class ultimately recommended, with each change taking effect in the 2020-22 cycle, if approved by Legislative Council next April:

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Class 1A

1A wants to move to a super regional format, which would put Districts 2, 3, 6 and 7 at a southern site, and Districts 1, 4, 5 and 8 at a northern site. Each super regional would have 12 teams in pods of three, and qualify four teams to the eight-team state tournament. In each pod, the highest seed would receive a bye, and play the winner of the two other teams in the pod.

The top three teams out of each district qualify for the super regional.

1A also changed its seeding criteria, and will use RPI, Packard Rankings, MaxPreps Rankings, and the CHSAANow Coaches Poll to seed the super regional. That is the same seeding criteria being used by 1A-5A football this season. The teams will be reseeded for the state tournament.

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Class 2A

2A adopted some minor changes in their district makeup with some schools changing classifications. Trinidad will play in a district tournament with the Black Forest League, and Burlington will travel to the Lower Platte district.

On the Western Slope, Paonia, Hotchkiss, Cedaredge, and Olathe will join the San Juan Basin League to form a nine-team district. This change leaves the northern part of the Western Slope League in the district of 10.

2A will use RPI through its district tournaments, stopping it at the regional tournament. The regional qualifying format will take the top three teams from each district, and the next eight remaining top schools as determined by the RPI standings. They will re-seed going into the eight-team state tournament.

2A is planning to maintain current seeding criteria.

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Class 3A

3A is not planning to change any formats, and is keeping its districts and regional seeding the same. The RPI will run through the district tournament, and stop at regionals.

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Class 4A and 5A

4A and 5A are each maintaining their 48-team state tournament brackets. Both classes added some human element to the seeding criteria, where a committee can review the top 16 using a criteria of head-to-head, non-league schedule, and geography. RPI remains the primary seeding criteria.

A team may be moved up or down one spot from RPI ranking, however schools that are the only school from a mixed-classification league can be moved up or down two spots. In 4A girls, this is Mullen and Gateway — but no boys teams. In 5A, this applies to Palmer, Fruita Monument and Pueblo West.

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A desire to move state tournaments to one site.

Borgmann spoke briefly about a desire to move all the state championships to one site, and hold them together in a major event similar to the state volleyball tournament, or the state wrestling tournament.

“We need to take a look at what we do, how we can improve, and how we can improve our student participants,” Borgmann said. “We need to be open to new ideas. Open your mind to changing the way we do business, and changing the way we showcase our kids. There’s a way you can do that at one site, and showcase every classification. It can happen.”

Of course, the right host site would need to be secured, and a new option may be on the horizon. There are tentative plans to build a new arena, one that may hold up to 10,000 fans, on the grounds of the National Western Complex in Denver.

Still, this may well be a few years off, if it were to come together.

“All I’m doing is planting a seed,” Borgmann said.

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State tournament sites.

(Kevin Keyser/KeyserImages.com)

The sites for the upcoming 2020 state tournaments:

• 1A: University of Northern Colorado, Greeley. Note: Championship games held at Budweiser Events Center in Loveland.
• 2A: Budweiser Events Center, Loveland.
• 3A: University of Denver.
• 4A: Denver Coliseum.
• 5A: Denver Coliseum.

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Notables:

• Each classification adopted recommendations for new district and league alignment. Those alignments will be available prior to the Legislative Council meeting in April 2020.
• There is a plan to run an evaluation event for girls, similar to what was run for the boys this past summer. More information will be passed along as it firms up.
• The All-State Games, held by CHSCA each summer, will be moving from Alamosa to Pueblo on the campus of CSU-Pueblo.
• Participation numbers for the boys and girls are both up over the past five seasons, with 11,723 boys and 9,045 girls participating in the 2018-19 season.

(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

AURORA — The three pilot sports were each given a positive review by the CLOC committee, checking off another step as they seek official CHSAA sanctioning.

Unified bowling, girls wrestling and boys volleyball each presented to the Classification and League Organizing and Appeals Committee on Tuesday, and each were given a thumbs up to continue their quest for sanctioning.

Per CHSAA bylaws, pilot sports must be approved by various committees along the road to sanctioning. Already, the three pilot sports have received positive reviews from the Equity Committee and the Sports Medicine Advisory Committee.

The next steps are approval by the CHSAA Board of Directors, and, if approved there, a vote by the member schools at the Legislative Council. Both of those meetings are in April.

In order to be voted on by the Legislative Council, a league must sponsor a bylaw proposal — something that is expected to happen for all three sports.

If any (or all) of the sports are sanctioned, the first official season would be in the 2020-21 school year.

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New schools approved for membership

The committee approve three schools for new membership into CHSAA:

• Addenbrooke Classical Academy in Lakewood
• Banning Lewis Prep Academy in Colorado Springs
• Denver School of Science & Technology: Conservatory Green in Denver

All three schools would participate at the 2A or 3A level.

If approved by the Legislative Council in April, this would bring CHSAA’s membership to 362 schools.

(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

The three sports currently in pilot seasons each got a thumbs up from the Equity Committee on Thursday, meaning their quest for sanctioning will continue.

Unified bowling, girls wrestling and boys volleyball each presented to the committee, and were approved by the committee following a review of each sport thus far in their pilot seasons.

The Equity Committee was tasked with reviewing a formal survey of schools about each sport, with a specific eye on the number of schools currently offering a program, the availability of facilities, the availability of officials and coaches, and student participation numbers. In addition, they reviewed the positive and/or negative impact to proportionality and Title IX considerations for the member schools, and for the Association.

After hearing the presentations, the Equity Committee voted to move each sport’s sanctioning request to the next step.

“The Equity Committee is really excited about the potential of the three pilot programs,” said CHSAA assistant commissioner Bethany Brookens, the staff liaison to the committee. “We were impressed with how each group identified equity and proportionality concerns, and look forward to the increased opportunities that these pilot programs will give our student participants.”

Thursday’s presentations to the Equity Committee were the first step in a series of reviews which must be successful in order for the pilot sports to be sanctioned. The next steps include reviews by:

• The Sports Medicine Committee on Feb. 20. This committee will be considering the sports for any safety, liability or health concerns.
• The Classification, Appeals and League Organizing Committee (CLOC) on Feb. 26-27. This committee will consider the impact of adding new sports with regard to classifications and leagues. They will also review the survey of schools, examining if there is an adequate number of schools in a geographic area to complete a regular season and postseason schedule.
• The CHSAA Board of Directors in April. The group will review at the results of the school survey, with an eye on the number of schools currently offering the program, student participation numbers, and the potential for growth. They will also consider the cost of adding the new sport(s), and maintaining them; any safety and liability concerns; the availability of officials; and any additional information regarding the impact of the sport(s) on the membership as a whole.
• From there, a league must agree to sponsor the sport, and submit a proposal for sanctioning at the Legislative Council. Each sport currently has a sponsor.
• The final step is a vote by the Legislative Council — CHSAA’s governing body comprised of representatives from leagues and associations — in April.

The pilot sports must be approved at each step in order to gain sanctioning. If any of the steps along the review process don’t approve, that sport’s quest for sanctioning ends there.

Here’s a closer look at each sport’s presentation on Thursday:

Unified Bowling

Full presentation

• Teams are composed of five players (three competing, and two substitutes). The three competing athletes will be two students with a disability, and one student without.
• 32 offered teams schools in 2018. They anticipate 50 in 2019.
• There were 350 participants in 2018. They anticipate 500 in 2019.
• Bowling is the most popular sport within Special Olympics nationwide.
• It takes place in the fall season.
• 76 percent of the schools who responded to a survey were in favor of sanctioning.
• 11 states sanction Unified bowling.
• The state competition was held Nov. 8 at AMF Monaco Lanes in Denver.
• Because the sport is co-ed, Title IX would not be impacted.

Girls Wrestling

Full presentation

• They use the same rulebook as the boys, but the weight classes are different.
• There are 114 schools who have girls participating.
• More than 300 girls are participating this season.
• It takes place in the winter season, concurrent with the boys.
• 80 percent of the schools who responded to a survey were in favor of sanctioning.
• The state tournament will be held Feb. 9 at Thornton HS. There will be two regionals this season, one northern and one southern.
• If sanctioned, girls must wrestle with their school team if they offer one. If their school doesn’t offer a girls program, female athletes would have a choice of wrestling with their school’s boys team, or joining another girls program within the same district they attend, or reside in.
• Adding a girls sport would have a positive impact in terms of Title IX proportionality.

Boys Volleyball

Full presentation

• The rules are the same as the girls game, but the net is raised.
• In 2018, there were 60 teams. They anticipate 75 in 2019.
• In 2018, there were 750 players. They anticipate 1,000 in 2019.
• It takes place in the spring season.
• 71 percent of the schools who responded to a survey were in favor of sanctioning.
• The state tournament was held at Grandview High School last season.
• Their analysis of Title IX implications and proportionality showed that 54 percent of schools would likely be able to add a boys volleyball program and maintain compliance without counting spirit as a sport. If a school counts spirit as a sport, 74 percent of schools can add a team, according to the group’s analysis. (Note: These figures only account for adding a boys volleyball program by itself; it doesn’t account for a scenario where girls wrestling were added at the same time, which would only help.)

(Marlee Smith/CHSAANow.com)

AURORA — The winter sports season kicks back into gear this week with the annual break coming to a close.

All sports can resume on Wednesday, meaning boys and girls basketball, hockey, girls swimming and wrestling return to action — though the overwhelming majority of contests aren’t until Thursday as teams like to have a formal practice before resuming.

It also means the start of the ski season is drawing closer — the first races are Jan. 11 (alpine) and Jan. 12 (nordic).

January will also bring a number of different meetings, from committees to subcommittees and even outreaches hosted by the Colorado Athletic Directors Association. The CADA meetings are Jan. 8-10 at eight different locations around the state.

For the first time, there will be no Legislative Council meeting in January, as the association has moved to one annual meeting, held now in April.

The CLOC meeting announcing classification and enrollment numbers will be Jan. 28.

(Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

AURORA — A group of administrators representing schools with large enrollments from around the state met on Thursday to discuss future plans for the football playoffs, including the potential creation of a Class 6A.

A major topic of discussion was the fact that in its current state, Class 5A football is dominated by a small group of teams. Since 2014, a total of 12 teams have made the quarterfinals. Over the course of those five seasons, four programs have made the quarterfinals all five years. Two more have reached the quarterfinals four of the five seasons, and two others have gone three times in five seasons.

This means that eight programs account for 85 percent of the possible quarterfinal berths in 5A over the past five seasons.

By comparison, 4A has only had one team go to the quarterfinals each of the past five seasons. No other team went more than three times.

The committee looked at multiple proposals which sought to address the current inequity in 5A football.

One idea, which has been discussed by CHSAA staff, some members of the football committee, and several interested groups for more than 18 months now, takes aim at the specific issue facing 5A. It would create an eight-team 6A playoff bracket.

Here are the specifics of the idea:

• The teams currently classified as 5A would continue to play against one another in the regular season.
• At the end of the regular season, the teams ranked Nos. 1-8 in 5A would become the 6A bracket, and play out their championship.
• The teams ranked Nos. 9-24 in 5A would become a 16-team 5A bracket, and play out their championship.
• These championship games would be played on the same weekend as the 3A and 4A title games.
• The exact selection criteria is a detail which needs to be worked out, but one possibility is the new Composite Ranking System that the football committee recommended for seeding during its meeting last week. That system uses four data sources: RPI, MaxPreps rankings, Packard rankings and a coaches poll.

The idea wouldn’t be much of an adjustment from the current setup of the 5A playoffs, which is a 24-team bracket with the top eight seeds receiving first-round byes. This season — the first year of that format — each of the top eight seeds advanced to the quarterfinals.

This system would not require the creation of a separate classification during the regular season, and allows for flexibility among the 6A group depending on who has a strong program that season. League alignment would not need any major adjustments to make it work.

This idea will continue to be discussed among the membership, and the football committee, over the next few months. A recommendation for the future classification system could come prior to the Legislative Council meeting in April.

Colorado had 6A football for a few years in the early 1990s, but that was setup as a traditional classification, meaning they were separated for the regular season.

(Steve Oathout)

AURORA — Football may be moving toward a more unified and consistent approach to playoff seeding. It also may be using a new set of criteria as part of that process.

During the sport’s committee meeting on Thursday, the group recommended that classes 1A through 5A be seeded by one seeding committee. The aim is consistency in seeding, something the committee felt was lacking in 2018.

“That is the one thing we heard more than anything else, was concerns about how things were seeded,” said Chris Noll, the chair of the football committee, who is the district athletic director of Colorado Springs School District 11. “This will ensure consistency.”

This model of one committee to seed all classes is currently used by volleyball.

The 6-man and 8-man brackets would continue to be seeded by their individual committees because of the uniqueness of their classifications, but also because of the classifications are satisfied with their current setup.

“They do an amazing job,” Noll said. “They’ve got it figured out.”

So the recommendation, which would need approval from the Legislative Council during its meeting in April, is to have the football committee seed all brackets from 1A-5A. The football committee is made up of two representatives per classification. Any active coaches would be replaced by another representative from that class due to a bylaw that prohibits coaches from sitting on seeding committees.

The number of qualifiers wouldn’t change. That means 16-team brackets in 6-man through 4A, and a 24-team bracket in 5A.

Additionally, the way teams qualify is not different from the current setup. That means league champions qualify automatically, and the remainder of the field is filled by the final RPI standings of the regular season in all classes but 5A.

In 5A, after league champions automatically qualify, the next 17 spots are filled by teams from leagues other than the Metro 10 League according to the final RPI standings. The final spot on the 5A bracket is filled via an at-large berth which is selected by the seeding committee.

But the recommendation, which would begin in 2019 if approved, also includes a change in criteria that would be used by the seeding committee. They would use the following, equally weighted:

• RPI rankings, posted on CHSAANow.com.
• MaxPreps rankings, posted on MaxPreps.com.
• Packard rankings, created and maintained by Erik Packard, an associate professor of mathematics at Colorado Mesa.
• Coaches poll, facilitated by CHSAANow. All head coaches would be invited to vote at the beginning of the season, and could only vote in their own classification. In order to vote in the final poll, coaches must vote in eight out of 10 polls for a 10-week season, or seven out of nine polls for a nine-week season.

Once on the bracket, teams could be moved one spot at maximum based upon head-to-head, if they are consecutive seeds. If the scenario exists where three or more consecutive seeds have all beat one another, they would be left as originally placed on the bracket.

When possible, conference opponents would not be paired against one another in the first round. Geography could also be considered. These adjustments would be made for seeds Nos. 9-16 in 1A-4A, and seeds Nos. 17-24 in 5A.

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6-man schedule change

The committee recommended that 6-man move its season up a week, and return to playing its championship game one week before all other classes. They would begin play on the same week as the rest of the classifications.

If approved, the 2019 title game would be on Nov. 23.

“All 6-man schools are in favor of this,” said classification representative Ryan Christiansen of Cotopaxi.

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Notables

• The officials association presented on the declining number of officials. In 2013, there were 744 officials. Last season, there were 574. As a result, 97 games had to be moved off of Friday nights due to a lack of officials.
• Denver Christian is resuming its football program, and will have a JV team next season. The plan is for the team to be varsity in 2020 as an 8-man program.
• A major topic of discussion was how to help struggling programs. “We know, more than ever, that we need to as a state association try to find ways to help those programs stay afloat,” CHSAA commissioner Rhonda Blanford-Green told the committee.
• In that same train of thought, Cheyenne Mountain athletic director Kris Roberts discussed an idea to create a league in 4A similar to the Metro 10 in 5A, which aims to help struggling programs rebuild. “We want to put together a group that can go out and play some like schools and have some success,” Roberts said.

(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

AURORA — The soccer committee on Wednesday recommended that teams in Class 2A be required to play a minimum number of games in order to be eligible for the postseason.

That recommendation will be forwarded to the Legislative Council for a vote in April. If approved, this would go into effect in the fall of 2020 for boys, and spring of 2021 for girls.

The committee recommended that all 2A teams must play at least 12 games in order to be eligible for the bracket. In addition, 10 of those games must be against schools that belong to state associations that are members of the NFHS. In Colorado, that means schools must be CHSAA members in order to count toward the 10-game minimum.

The change was made with an eye toward ensuring that teams were playing roughly the same number of contests during the regular season, while still giving schools the flexibility to schedule as-needed in order to meet their unique financial and geographic concerns. The maximum number of contests is 15.

“The Federation school limitation was put in place because it is hard to find accurate schedules and results for some of the schools that are not Federation schools,” said CHSAA assistant commissioner Ernie Derrera, who oversees soccer. “And keeping with the philosophy of CHSAA, we are trying to encourage teams to participate against other schools that have the same philosophy.”

The committee opted to only make the recommendation of a game minimum in 2A because it is not an issue in 3A, 4A or 5A.

“They felt like it was really an issue for smaller programs that were more secluded from like opponents, and playing a full schedule was not an issue for the other three classifications,” Derrera said.

Teams that don’t reach the minimum would still have their data factored into the RPI. Only, they would not be eligible to be included in the postseason field.

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Recommended change to officiating system

(Matt Daniels/MattDanPhoto.com)

The committee also recommended a change in the system of officiating used. Currently, CHSAA uses the double dual system of officiating, which is more commonly known as a three-whistle system. This differs from the overwhelming majority of the soccer matches played worldwide, including the high school level and above.

The recommendation is the use of the diagonal system of control, with one center referee and two assistant referees who use flags instead of whistles to make their calls. The NFHS allows for state associations to determine which system of officiating they use.

If approved, the change would go into effect with the 2019 boys season, and the 2020 girls season.

The dual system of officiating has been used by CHSAA for the past 16 seasons.

Though the diagonal system of control is preferred, this recommendation would only apply if three officials are being used at the varsity level. If schools can only schedule two officials, they can opt for the dual system.

However, if the recommendation is passed, CHSAA will use the diagonal system in all postseason matches.

Currently, all HSSO officials are required to be certified in the diagonal system, so it wouldn’t be a major change for officials. It is currently used by Colorado Youth Soccer, and the United Stats Soccer Federation, as well professional and world-wide soccer.

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Postseason changes

• The committee also discussed the postseason format, and they recommend keeping the boys in the setup used this past fall, with 5A playing on a Friday night, and 2A, 3A and 4A playing on Saturday, with the 2A game being the middle game on Saturday to allow for possible travel. In order to accommodate the short turnaround for 5A, that semifinals would be moved from Wednesday to Tuesday.
• No changes were recommended to the girls postseason, largely because of scheduling requirements when working with Dick’s Sporting Goods Park and the Colorado Rapids’ schedule. As a result, those games must be played on a Tuesday and Wednesday.